Automatic blower for locomotives



Aug. 28, 1923. 1,466,371

F. A. GALE AUTOMATIC BLOWER F OR LOCOMOTIVES Filed March 25, 1921 i g l I Feds/(Cid Gale,

Patented as, was,

.irsn stars s in reer n FREDERICK A. GALE, OF CHZCAGO, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC BLOWER FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

Application filed March 23, 1921. Serial No. 454,802.

oit from the cylinders and normal discharge of steam upward through the stack is ab sent. In a locomotive, and especially with a green lire or fire from which the more volatile constituents oi the freshly added coal have not had time to distill, shutting off of the steam from the cylinders and consequent interruption of exhaust upward through the stack leaves the smoke and gases of the tire, particularly in heavy weather, free to settle down around the locomotive and over adjacent tracks, and causes great danger of accident by obscuring signals from the vision of the engineer, and the moving cars on adjacent tracks from the vision. o't operatives who may be working on: and about the Moreover, such smoke and gases trequently become a source of great annoyance and inconvenience to passengers in adjacent cars.

The present invention has for its object to provide means for automatically opening a steam connection from the boiler to develop Forced draft upwardthrough the stack when the throttle of the engine is closed, and to shut off such supply of steam from the boiler whenever the throttle is open.

. A further object is to utilize the automatic control of such steam to govern the supply of steam to the tire.

Still another object is to provide means for bringing either of the steam supplies, that delivering to the stack and that delivering to the tire, under said automatic con t-rol. at willand to regulate theextent to which each becomes responsive to the automatic control.

The invention proceeds upon the principle of taking live steam from the boiler and delivering it in suitable position to serve the function stated; that is to say, delivering it beneath the petticoat pipe to take the place of exhaust steam for blowing the fire, and delivering it through jet nozzles at the sides of the lire for consuming the smoke, and

providing an automatic valve for the control of these deliveries which is opened ants closed reciprocally with the opening and closing of the engine throttle; suitable hand eon-trolled valves being introduced beyond the automatic valve, in the branch pipes which lead to the blower and tire jets; and the valve which automatically controls the live steam delivery being preferably in the nature of a" piston valve whi h will close under pressure of steam released by the relieved of such pressure. 7 v

In the accompanying drawln Figitire 1 is a diagrammatic view of a lo comotive to which the preferred embodiment of the subje-ctmaatter of the. present invention' is applied.

Figure 2is a side elevation of the auto matic valve'employedin the arrangement of. Figure 1; and

throttlel but will automatically open when Figure 8 is anaxial section of the, valve shown 1n Figure 2. J 7

A represents the throttle valve of an en gine, and Ac the controlling mechanisi'n tor such valve, which usually extends within reach ot the engineer and adapted to be manipulated to-unseat the valve and admit steam to the dry-pipe'leading to the steam chest B represents the petticoat pipe located in the smoke box beneath the stack. C is the exhaust nozzle whichusually delivers beneath the petticoat B for the purpose otinducing a partial vacuum in the smoke box at the front end ot the tubes and thereby causing zv forced dra'tt through the tire and tubes. D represents an annulus surrounding the exhaust nozzle C or any other suitable attachment through which live steam maybe delivered in the same relation to the petticoat B as that in which steam is delivered from the exhaust nozzle C. The attachment Dis merely typical of some suitable means for delivering live steam in the relation stated. 13 represents a'supply pipe for the attachment D, which leads from some suitable source of live steam, for instance, fromthel upstanding end E in the steam dome F. G represents a valve adapt-- ed to be n'ianipulated by hand for the purpose of controlling'the flow of steam through the pipe E to theattachment D.

M represents a branch pipe takings-team from the pipe E in volume regulated at will" M of known. construetiot, which deliver steam to the fire as an additional combustion-supporting medium or smoke consuming expedient. To regulate the steam flowing through pipe B, said pipe is provided with a hand controlled valve E By regulating the valves E and M, the distribution of the steam to the attachment D and the jets M may be proportioned at will.

As thus far described, the organization of parts is capable of manipulation to deliver live steam in draft-inducing relation to the smoke box at will, so that forced draft may be maintained whenever the locomotive is at rest and draft-inducing steam is not being supplied by the exhaust nozzle. But it is desirable to render the opening and closing of the pipe .E automatically reciprocal wit-h the opening and closing of the locomotive throttle A. To this end, a specially constructed valve H is introduced at some suitable point in the pipe Effor the purpose of controlling the flow. of live steam through the pipe, and this valve H has its rod H equipped with a piston H working 1n the cylinder 1-1 to one side of which steam re leased by the throttle A is communicated, as for instance through the pipe K leading from the dry pipe A between the throttle A and the steam chest A while the other side of said piston H is subjected to a counter pressure, for instance, the pressure of live steam standing in the advance portion of pipe E, with the result that whenever the throttle A is open and a working pressure of steam is admitted to the dry-pipe A a portion of said steam will flow through pipe K to the piston H and force the latter downward to seat the valve H. But whenever the throttle A is closed, and pressure above the piston H is relieved, the pressure of live steam beneath the piston H lifts the valve H from its seat and permits steam to flow from the advance portion of pipe E to the discharge end thereof, and serve the blowing attachment D beneath the stack.

Suitable means are provided for differentiating the eiiect of steam pressure upon opposite sides of piston H In the embodi ment of the invention selected herein for purposes of illustration, this consists of a coil spring H located on the side of the piston to assist the throttle-controlled pres sure medium in seating the valve. When the valve is seated the force opposing the throttle-controlled pressure of pipe K and I the spring H is reduced by the superficial should be closed, it will be possible to use the same arrangement to maintain live steam blowing simultaneously with the exhaust steam blowing, in case it should be desirable to augment the draft on the fire while the engine is proceeding very slowly and the volume of exhaust is correspondingly small.

By the use of the valve G the auxiliary blowing equipmentmay be kept entirely out of action when not needed, as, for instance, when the locomotive is making infrequent stops and the draft is ample during running periods to maintain the fire without the consumption of live steam. Similarly, by open ing valve G and closing valve E the jets M will be automatically supplied to the exclusion of the blowing device D, and. by leaving valve E open and closing valveM, the blowing device may be used to the exclusion of the steam jets. V j r I claim: 1. In a forced draft attachment for locomotives, means for delivering steam in draft inducing relation to the fire oi the locomotive, a pipe for supplying said steam, a throttle having connections for supplying steam to the locomotive, and a steam actuated valve'in said pipe receiving steam released by the throttle; said valve having a cylinder which is subjected on one side to the pressure of steam which it controls, and on the other side to the pressure of steam released by the throttle; and means independent of the throttle released steam being provided on said side subjected to steam from the throttle for augmenting the pressure of the latter.

2. In a forced draft attachment for locomotives, means for delivering steam in draft inducing relation to the fire of the locomotive, a pipe for supplying said steam, a throttle having connections for supplying steam to the locomotive, and a steam actuated valve in said pipe receiving steam re leased by the throttle; said valve having a cylinder which is subjected on one side to the pressure of steam which it controls, and on the other side to the pressure of steam released by the throttle, and a spring being provided on said side subjected to steam from the throttle for augmenting the pressure of the latter. 3. In combination with a locomotive, a blower, a jet adapted to supply steam to the fire, and automatic means controlled by the supply and shutting off of locomotive propelling steam governingthesupply-of steam to said blower and jet; said blower and jet having independent means for governing the proportion of such steam that reachesthem.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 18th day of March,192l.

FREDERICK A. GALE. 

